Managed to get in to see this movie in its opening week (the theater wasn’t even crowded!), and it did not disappoint, proving to be one of the best Harry Potter films yet, though not without its faults.

I had read a couple pre-release reviews saying that it would be necessary to re-read the previous book or re-watch the previous movie (The Order of the Phoenix) in order to follow the plot, so having some time on my hands, I re-watched all of the movies. I wouldn’t say this is really necessary prior to watching the film – though if you really have forgotten what has happened, re-watching Order of the Phoenix may be wise – but it did reveal something interesting that I hadn’t really noticed before. The first couple entries in the series were magical when I first saw them. I was younger at the time, however, and re-watching them, I spotted some awkward acting that I hadn’t noticed at first. I found that the third film, The Prisoner of Azkaban, was actually my least favorite. With such lines as “…and when I find him, I’m gonna kill him!” being thrown in, it took some of the magic (sorry) away from the movie. Luckily the fourth and fifth ones made up for what the third lacked, showing that, with the slight exception of the third film, the Harry Potter series has truly grown. They’ve become progressively darker, and, though not necessarily related, they’ve become progressively better. Order of the Phoenix was easily the best of the first five films, leaving me confident going into Half-Blood Prince that it would be even better.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry return in the sixth installment of the Harry Potter series

I mentioned above that the series had grown over the years. So, too, have the actors. While Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), and Rupert Grint (Ronald Weasley) started out the series at ages 9, 10, and 11. These ages were about right for the first film, but once the movies started being released every two years, instead of yearly, the actors quickly (and noticeably) outstripped their magical counterparts. There is an awkward moment that seems to address this in Half-Blood Prince where Dumbledore says to Harry, “You need a shave, my friend.” Too true. This took away some of the enjoyment of the movie for me, as it made many scenes quite odd to watch. I really wish they had been able to keep to the “one a year” schedule for the films, though I suppose it’s better to have a quality film with actors older than they should be than to have a rushed film with appropriately-aged actors.

The actors are noticeably and sometimes awkwardly much older than they once were

Half-Blood Prince sees Harry return to Hogwarts once more, though this time with many reasons to be suspicious of Draco Malfoy. Harry finds a textbook in his Potions class – now taught by formerly-retired Professor Slughorn, whose only motive to teach is that Harry is in his class – labeled as the property of the “Half-Blood Prince.” Though Harry has no idea who that is, he quickly finds that notes made in the book help him greatly, allowing him to further impress Slughorn and learn a few tricks (some of them dark) along the way. Meanwhile, Harry is engaged in private sessions with Dumbledore to bring down Voldemort by exploring his past to find and exploit his weaknesses.

Tom Felton takes on a much more sinister role as Draco Malfoy

While it has been several years since I read the book, I’ve heard from friends (and even from comments in the theater at the end of the movie) that many things were left out. I remember the book well enough to have been able to think “ah, I remember this scene from the book,” though not so well as to know which scenes were not there. To me, that is a good thing – the scenes that were left out were not missed, and the movie did not suffer as a result of their not being included. So if you’re a big Harry Potter fan, I’m sure you’ll find that this part or that part was not included, and you’ll maybe hate the movie for it, but if you’re a fan of movies, you’ll find that the parts that were included make the movie great.

As the actors have grown, so has their acting ability. That puts this film at the top, so far, in terms of performance by the actors. In almost every one of the movies, there was a scene or two where I cringed a bit due to poor acting, but they didn’t miss a beat in Half-Blood Prince. The two years it took to get every scene right clearly paid off. I had been a bit worried that since these three last movies are back-to-back (2009, 2010, and 2011), that they might feel rushed. Half-Blood Prince certainly doesn’t feel rushed, leaving me hopeful for Deathly Hallows parts one and two.

Effects, CG, lighting, set design, and costumes all came together to make every setting unique, making all scenes just as magical as expected of a Harry Potter film.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a great movie, entirely worth seeing in theaters, and easily one of them best movies I’ve seen all year. There are still two more to go (with Deathly Hallows being done in two parts), so we can only hope that they’re even better.